1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for providing recommended information related to a recommended broadcast program selected from broadcast scheduled programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, attracted is a technique of selecting a broadcast program from broadcast scheduled programs in consideration with preference of a user and recommending it for the user. A conventional program recommendation technique is divided into collaborative filtering and contents base filtering widely.
The collaborative filtering is a method for accumulating watching and hearing histories about many viewing audiences, selecting from those viewing audiences a viewing audience having the watching and hearing history similar to the watching and hearing history of the viewing audience for which the program is to be recommended, and assuming the watching and hearing program of the selected viewing audience to be a program to be recommended.
The contents base filtering is a method for obtaining information on a feature (attribute) for explaining the taste of the viewing audience from attribute information on the watching and hearing history of the viewing audience, and attribute information on a watched and heard program, accumulating these information as a user profile and selecting a program to be recommended based on the user profile.
However, in these conventional program recommendation techniques, when a niche program that is not almost broadcasted is a program which a certain audience likes, it is difficult to recommend a program congenial to the taste concerning such a niche program indicating a minor program whose viewing rate is low.
The niche program is, for example, a program that a certain viewing audience tends to watch and hear willingly and a performer who appears on a TV program with a little frequency appears on. The performer who appears on the TV program with a little frequency is referred to as a niche performer. The viewing audience having the taste to watch and hear the niche program can be referred to as a niche viewing audience. Similarly the other attribute such as genres aside from the performer is referred to as a niche attribute. In other words, in collaborative filtering, since the data of viewing audiences who tend to watch and hear the niche program is little in number, it is difficult to elect other viewing audiences having a watching and hearing history similar to the niche viewing audience. Therefore, it is difficult to recommend a program for the niche audience.
In the contents filtering, because it is rare that information concerning the program of broadcast schedule includes the niche attribute that the viewing audience to be a recommendation object likes, it is difficult to recommend a program for the viewing audience. For example, when the niche performer of the name of “oooo” is registered with one of a user profile of a certain viewing audience, it is rare that a program having the name of the “oooo” as a performer attribute is included in information on the broadcast scheduled program. Therefore, an effective program cannot be recommended.
As described above, it is difficult that the conventional system of recommending a broadcast program recommends a program according to a personal niche of the viewing audience.
The object of the present invention is to provide a recommended program information providing apparatus capable of recommending a program for a personal niche viewing audience in effective and a method for the same.